Where Are The Refugees Coming From? Their Home Countries Are Often War-Torn, Impoverished, & Militarized

A Syrian Kurdish woman crosses the border between Syria and Turkey at the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province on September 23, 2014. The UN refugee agency warned Tuesday that as many as 400,000 people may flee to Turkey from Syria's Kurdish region to escape attacks by the Islamic State group. AFP PHOTO / BULENT KILIC (Photo credit should read BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images)Source:
BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images

This year has seen more refugees from the Middle East and Africa entering Europe than ever before, as a variety of factors continue to drive them from their home countries. In general, these refugees are escaping war, poverty, and persecution in order to begin better lives in Europe, even if the treacherous journey there often puts their lives at risk. Now, leaders of the European Union are under pressure to formulate plans to mitigate the situation, but in order to do so, they'll have to consider two things: Which countries are the migrant refugees are coming from? And what's going on in these countries that's driving people out?

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 350,000 refugees have been recorded at the EU's borders so far this year (January to August), compared to 280,000 recorded for all of 2014. This surge in the number of refugees is a sobering reflection of the unstable and hostile conditions in their home countries that are prompting them to risk their lives to seek asylum in countries such as Hungary, Germany, and Italy.

So just where are they fleeing from exactly? According to The Independent's stats gathered from January to March, the breakdown of first-time asylum applicants by citizenship is as follows, from most to least (BBC reports that the highest number of refugees is coming from Syria):

Kosovo

Syria

Other

Afghanistan

Albania

Iraq

Serbia

Pakistan

Ukraine

Nigeria

Somalia

Russia

Eritrea

Gambia

Bangladesh

Senegal

Iran

Macedonia

Mali

Stateless

Algeria

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Georgia

Democratic Republic of the Congo

China

Sudan

Libya

Turkey

Guinea

Morocco

Ivory Coast

Clearly, these refugees are coming from very varied parts of the world, with differing governments and situations, but there are some common factors between them. Refugees from Western Africa and Kosovo alike are escaping extreme poverty. Those who flee Iraq, Syria, and Somalia are running from militant extremists who plague their war-torn countries. Almost every refugee, no matter where they come from, is escaping repression in some form or other.

The mounting refugee crisis has EU leaders scrambling to decide the right course of action. On Wednesday, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told BBC News:

We are taking action across the board... the most important thing is to try to bring peace and stability to that part of the world. I don't think there is an answer that can be achieved simply by taking more and more refugees.